Hard cap might not soften up Heat

MIAMI — The scariest two words in basketball from a Miami Heat standpoint, at least currently, have to be "hard cap."

When you're carrying the contracts of LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh, such an eventuality would leave little wiggle room when it comes to roster building and maintenance.

But if any new agreement is phased in, there could be an upside to the concept for the Heat and other current high-end, elite teams.

Foremost, with a hard salary cap, the middle class mostly would be lost. Teams would max out for star talent, with the rest of the talent pool largely scrambling for equal scraps.

So for the same amount of money, would you choose Sacramento or South Beach?

To play for an organization with unproven management and ownership, or Pat Riley and Micky Arison?

To experience 10 below and snowy, or 80 degrees and sunny?

In a world without a mid-level exception and a middle class, a best-of-the-rest free agent could do a lot worse than South Florida.

The very owners dismayed by the Heat, Los Angeles Lakers, New York Knicks and other prime-destination franchises exacting added benefit under the just-expired collective-bargaining agreement could find much the same with a hard cap.

Says who?

Says Agent Zero.

In tweeting up a storm in the wake of the lockout, Orlando Magic guard Gilbert Arenas actually offered a few cogent points (yes, we're shocked, too) about the stacked deck the NBA will maintain regardless of the structure of a new agreement.

The essence of Arenas' thoughts, in a neatly packaged Twitter translation:

"Lakers, Dallas, Miami, Knicks, Magic, Bulls, Boston, and a few others always have the best chance at the top free agents due to city and money.

"So the smaller cities team can't compete. So they can never get better and they're always losing money."

Comforting, isn't it, Memphis, Sacramento, Salt Lake City?

In recent years, when a secondary-market team could mass max cap space, they at least could put themselves on the free-agent map. It's how Utah landed Carlos Boozer in the first place, how Orlando lured Rashard Lewis.

But when those star slots are gone, a hard cap could leave equivalent salary spots throughout the league, making some landing spots more attractive to top-tier B-list possibilities.

Asked last week by the New York Times, "Where do you prefer living, in the East or West?," Knicks power forward Amare Stoudemire responded, "The East Coast is more entertaining. You have so many great cities here, like Miami, New York and Philadelphia, that have so much to offer culturally. These are intriguing cities to me. They're fun to visit and explore."

The perfect world for Arison's billions and the Heat's current roster composition would remain a spend-as-you-like soft cap that allows for exceptions and the exceeding of the cap via luxury-tax payments.

But the alternative might not prove as punitive as some think. Not when the money is equal and the deliberations for free agents come down to Miami or Memphis, South Beach or Sacramento, Coconut Grove or Charlotte.

Location might not mean as much as in a 16-week sport that ends shortly after the turn of the calendar, but when you're going six months through the dead of winter, all things being equal (which they just might be the case cash-wise under a new NBA agreement), the ultimate deciding factor in filling out rosters could be location, location, location.

IN THE LANE

REMEMBERING GILLIAM: Back when the late Armen Gilliam still was spelling his first name A-r-m-o-n, he found himself part of a moment that will forever live on in Heat lore and perhaps speaks to the competitive zeal that the veteran power forward displayed over his 13-season career. Gilliam collapsed and died Wednesday at 47 while playing recreational basketball in the Pittsburgh area. On April 19, 1989, while still with the Phoenix Suns, Gilliam found himself in a tussle with then-Heat guard Dwayne "Pearl" Washington, with both ejected. Looking to settle the score, Gilliam then entered the Heat locker room and delivered a punch to Washington, who was in the shower at the time. Washington, never a picture of fitness during his NBA career, then emerged naked (yes, naked) in the hallway between locker rooms at Miami Arena in a bid to get back at Gilliam. Gilliam was fined $7,500 for his stealth attack, a huge fine in those days. Washington's agent initially threatened legal action, with an apology from Gilliam putting the incident to rest.